THE USE OF REFLECTIVE ESSAYS IN TEACHING RECOUNT TEXTS
A Research Paper
Submitted to the English Education Department in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for Sarjana Pendidikan Degree.
Written by:
Carolina Eka Putri
0905989
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND FINE ARTS EDUCATION INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION
PAGE OF APPROVAL
CAROLINA EKA PUTRI
THE USE OF REFLECTIVE ESSAYS IN TEACHING RECOUNT TEXTS
APPROVED BY:
Main Supervisor
Prof. Hj. Emi Emilia, M. Ed., Ph. D NIP. 1966091619990012001
Co-Supervisor
Drs. Deddy Suryana, M. A. NIP. 196212101990031004
Head of English Education Department Faculty of Language and Fine Arts Education
Indonesia University of Education
The Use of Reflective Essays in
Teaching Recount Texts
Oleh Carolina Eka Putri
Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni
© Carolina Eka Putri 2014 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Februari 2014
Hak Cipta dilindungi undang-undang.
ABSTRACT
The study investigates the effectiveness of reflective essays in improving
students’ scores in writing recount texts and students’ responses toward the
implementation of the technique. A reflective essay is a piece of writing that basically demands the writer to write about their activities and feelings during a particular subject. In this study, the teaching and learning processes are based on the Indonesian curriculum and use the genre-based approach. As suggested by Freeze and Joyce (2002) that the genre-based approach is the most effective methodology for implementing text-based curriculum. The study employs a quasi-experimental design. Sixty students of one senior high school in Bandung, Indonesia, are involved as the participants of this study. The students have grouped into the experimental and control groups. The data have obtained from several sources, including pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire. The pre-test and post-test scores have analyzed by using the independent t-test while the questionnaire has analyzed by using percentages. The findings reveal that the use of reflective essay technique is effective in improving students’ scores in writing recount texts. The result of the independent t-test shows students’ scores of both control and experimental groups have improved but the improvement of the experimental group which has received the reflective essay technique is better. It is indicated by the statistical computation in which the means of control and
experimental groups’ scores before receiving the treatments are (M = 58.90) and
(M = 60.40) while the means of control and experimental groups’ scores after
receiving the treatments are (M = 71.10) and (M = 79.83). Moreover, the result of the independent t-test computation of post-test scores shows the tobt (4.042), which
is greater than tcrit (2.000) at the level of significance 0.05. It means that the null
hypothesis is rejected as there is a significant difference between students’ post -test scores in the experimental and control groups. The questionnaire results reveal that most students are interested in the implementation of reflective essays technique in teaching recount texts. The study recommends teachers for implementing reflective essay technique in teaching recount texts due to its benefits and further researchers for conducting study of reflective essay techniques in other genre.
ABSTRAK
Penelitian ini menyelidiki keefektifan dari reflective essays dalam meningkatkan nilai menulis teks recount siswa dan respon siswa terhadap penerapan dari teknik. Reflective essay adalah sebuah tulisan yang menuntut penulisnya untuk menulis tentang aktivitas dan perasaan penulis selama pelajaran tertentu. Proses belajar-mengajar dalam penelitian ini berdasarkan kurikulum Indonesia dan menggunakan pendekatan genre-based. Seperti yang disarankan oleh Freeze dan Joyce (2002) bahwa pendekatan genre-based merupakan metode yang paling efektif dalam menerapkan kurikulum text-based. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain quasi-experimental. Enam puluh siswa dari salah satu sekolah menengah atas di Bandung dilibatkan untuk menjadi partisipan dari penelitian ini. Siswa dikelompokkan menjadi kelompok experimental dan kelompok kontrol. Data diperoleh dari berbagai sumber, seperti pre-test, post-test, dan questionnaire. Nilai dari pre-test dan post-test dianalisis dengan menggunakan independent t-test sedangkan hasil questionnaire dianalisis dengan menggunakan persentase. Hasil menunjukkan bahwa penggunaan teknik reflective essay efektif dalam meningkatkan nilai menulis teks recount siswa. Hasil dari independent t-test menunjukkan bahwa nilai siswa dari kedua kelompok mengalami peningkatan, namun peningkatan yang dialami siswa pada kelompok experimental lebih baik. Hal ini terlihat dari perhitungan statistik dimana nilai rata-rata (means) dari kelompok kontrol dan experimental sebelum mendapatkan perawatan (M=58.90) dan (M=60.40) sementara nilai rata-rata (means) dari kelompok kontrol dan experimental setelah mendapatkan perawatan (M=71.10) dan (M=79.83). Terlebih lagi, hasil dari perhitungan independent t-test pada nilai post-test menunjukkan bahwa tobt (4.042), lebih besar dari tcrit (2.000) pada level
signifikan 0.05. Hipotesis null pada penelitian ini ditolak mengingat adanya perbedaan signifikan antara nilai post-test siswa pada kelompok kontrol dan experimental. Hasil questionnaire menunjukkan bahwa kebanyakan siswa tertarik dalam penerapan teknik reflective essays dalam pengajaran teks recount. Penelitian ini merekomendasikan guru untuk menerapkan teknik reflective essay dalam pengajaran teks recount berdasarkan keuntungannya dan peneliti lain untuk membuat sebuah penelitian tentang teknik reflective essay dalam genre teks lain.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE OF APPROVAL ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
DECLARATION... Error! Bookmark not defined.
PREFACE ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 1
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ABSTRACT ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER I ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
INTRODUCTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.2 STATEMENTS OF PROBLEM ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.3 AIMS OF STUDY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.6 CLARIFICATION OF TERMS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE PAPER ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER II ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1 WRITING ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1.1 THE NATURE OF WRITING ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1.2 THE ASPECTS OF WRITING ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.1.3 THE PROCESS OF WRITING ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2 THE GENRE-BASED APPROACH ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.2.1 BUILDING KNOWLEDGE OF FIELD (BKOF) ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.2.2 MODELING OF TEXTS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2.3 JOINT CONSTRUCTION (JC) ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.2.4 INDEPENDENT CONSTRUCTION (IC) Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.3 RECOUNT TEXT ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3.4 LANGUAGE FEATURES OF RECOUNT TEXT . Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4 REFLECTIVE ESSAY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4.1 THE NATURE OF REFLECTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4.2 DEFINITION OF ESSAY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4.3 DEFINITION OF REFLECTIVE ESSAY Error! Bookmark not defined. 2.4.4 THE ADVANTAGES OF USING REFLECTIVE ESSAY ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4.5 STAGES IN IMPLEMENTING REFLECTIVE ESSAY ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.4.6 RELATION BETWEEN RECOUNT AND REFLECTIVE ESSAY ...E rror! Bookmark not defined.
2.5 RELATED STUDIES ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER III ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.1 VARIABLE ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.2 HYPOTHESIS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.3 SITE AND PARTICIPANTS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.2 DATA COLLECTION ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.1 RESEARCH PROCEDURES ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3 DATAANALYSIS ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.1 SCORING PROCEDURE ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3.2 DATA ANALYSIS ON PILOT TEST ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.3.3 DATA ANALYSIS ON PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST SCORES ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.4 DATA ANALYSIS ON QUESTIONNAIRE ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER IV... Error! Bookmark not defined.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.1 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS FROM THE PILOT TEST ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
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4.2.1 THE NORMALITY DISTRIBUTION TEST ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.2.3 THE INDEPENDENT T-TEST COMPUTATION ON PRE-TEST SCORES...E rror! Bookmark not defined.
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4.3.1 THE NORMALITY DISTRIBUTION TEST ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.3.2 THE HOMOGENEITY VARIANCE TEST ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.3.3 THE INDEPENDENT T-TEST COMPUTATION ON POST-TEST SCORES...E rror! Bookmark not defined.
4.3.4 THE DEPENDENT T-TEST COMPUTATION ON POST-TEST
SCORES...E rror! Bookmark not defined.
4.4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.4.1 STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TOWARD ENGLISH LESSON AND ENGLISH WRITING LESSON ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.4.2 STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TOWARD WRITING RECOUNT
TEXT...E rror! Bookmark not defined.
4.4.3 STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TOWARD THE USE OF REFLECTIVE ESSAYS IN TEACHING RECOUNT TEXTS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4.4.4 STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TOWARD THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REFLECTIVE ESSAYS IN TEACHING RECOUNT TEXTS ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4.5 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS FROM STUDENTS’ WRITINGS
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CHAPTER V ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 5.1 CONCLUSIONS ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 5.2 SUGGESTIONS ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides background of study, statement of problems, aims of
study, research hypothesis, significance of the study, research methodology
including research design, population and sample, data collection, data analysis,
and clarification of key terms.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Language is a medium of communication, which helps the members of a
community in the society, to communicate and interact with one another. It
involves both verbal and non-verbal communication. Language focuses on
listening and reading which can be named as passive or receptive skills, while
speaking and writing can be named as, active or productive skills.
One of the important skills in learning a language is writing. Through
writing the writer can express ideas, feelings, hopes, and dreams as well as fears,
angers, and frustrations. For students, writing is a primary medium through which
they demonstrate their understanding and interpretation of concepts and theories
studies for many weeks or months (Hughey, 1983).
Unfortunately, many students in Indonesia face difficulties when they have
to write in English. For many reasons, writing is the most difficult skill to learn
(Alwasilah, 2001). Common problems which were found by students during
writing activities usually dealt with the problems in generating ideas and
developing the ideas into a good piece of writing; problem with vocabulary,
Meanwhile, the curriculum in Indonesia requires students to write different
types of text, such as narrative text, descriptive text, and recount text. The study
focuses on recount text. Recount text is a text which explores the informative fact
for the past experience to inform or entertain the reader or the audiences (Gerot &
Wignel, 1994, p. 194). Learning recount text is important since it is very useful in
the process of further education, such as School Final Exams (Martin, 1984, cited
in Emilia, 2011).
A recount text has three elements: orientation or setting, events, and
reorientation or concluding statement of the story. The orientation provides the
setting and introduces participants, the events tell the sequence of the events, and
the reorientation consists of summaries of the events. Therefore, to help students
in writing, teachers have to be very organized in their instructions (Brown, 2007),
because this can be concluded that to write a recount text correctly, one should
know well about the procedure or the steps of activities that should be followed.
One way to help students write recount text more coherently or cohesively
is writing essay. In recent times, writing an essay has become a major part of a
formal education. Secondary students are taught structured essay formats to
improve their writing skills, and essays are often used by universities in selecting
applicants. In some cases, essays are used to judge the mastery and
comprehension of material. Students are asked to explain, comment on, or assess
a topic of study in the form of an essay.
One of many examples of essay is a reflective essay. A reflective essay is
an individual activity in which the writer commits ideas, thoughts, reflections and
feelings to paper in various learning contexts (Gilmore, 1996). Writing reflective
essay offers some benefits for both teacher and students. For the teachers,
reflective essay can act as a useful tool for corrective feedback, and as a mirror to
students, a reflective essay can help to recall on what they did, what new
vocabulary they learned, and what was difficult for them in the lesson.
Thus, the researcher is interested to conduct a study which aimed at
investigating whether or not the reflective essay can be one of many effective techniques to improve students’ ability in writing recount text. In this study, the teaching and learning process is based on the Indonesian curriculum and uses the
genre-based approach to teach writing recount text since it is the most effective
methodology in implementing text-based curriculum (Freeze & Joyce, 2002, cited
in Helena, 2008).
1.2 STATEMENTS OF PROBLEM
There are two problems which will be investigated in the study. The
problems are formulated in the following questions:
1. Is the use of reflective essay effective in improving students’ scores in
writing recount text?
2. What are the students’ responses toward the use of reflective essay in
writing recount text?
1.3 AIMS OF STUDY
Based on the background and statement of problems of the study above,
the aims of the study can be formulated as follows:
1. To analyze whether or not the use of reflective essay is effective in improving students’ scores in writing recount text.
2. To find out students’ responses toward the use of reflective essay in
writing recount text.
1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY
The scope of the study is limited to two concerns. First, the study focuses
scores in writing recount text. Second, the study investigates the students’ responses toward the implementation of reflective essay technique.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
In conducting the study, the researcher expects to give some contributions
for educational field, especially teaching strategy used in language teaching and
learning, particularly in writing subject. If the result indicates that the use of reflective essay in improving students’ scores in writing recount text is effective, the technique can be used by students as one way to improve their skill in writing
recount text. Furthermore, the study is expected to be reference for English
teachers in developing innovative teaching technique used in the classroom.
1.6 CLARIFICATION OF TERMS
The following are the key terms used in the study to assist in
understanding several terms or concepts of this study:
A reflective essay is a piece of writing that basically demands the writer to
write about their activities and feelings about a particular subject. A reflective
essay is an individual activity in which the writer commits ideas, thoughts,
reflections, and feelings to paper in various learning contexts (Gilmore, 1996).
Writing is the ability to express ideas through symbols. According to many
experts, writing is an activity to produce coherent written works. Thus,
representations on the paper will have meaning and content that could be
communicated to other people by the writer (Klein, 1985).
Recount text is one of story genre. The text is aimed at reconstructing past
experienced by retelling events and incidents of the order in which they have
occurred. A recount text has three elements: orientation or setting, events, and
reorientation or concluding statement of the story. The orientation provides the
setting and introduces participants, the events tell the sequence of the events, and
1.7 ORGANIZATION OF THE PAPER
The study is organized into five chapters. Chapter I consists of background
of study, statements of problem, aims of study, scope of study, significance of
study, and the clarification of related terms. Chapter II presents some theoretical
foundations of the study such as general writing, the genre-based-approach, the
definition of recount text, the generic structures and language features of recount
text, the definition of reflection and reflective essay, the advantages of using
reflective essay, stages in implementing reflective essay, relation between recount
and reflective essay, and related studies. Chapter III informs methodology of this
study, including the research design, variables, hypothesis of the study, site and
participants, research instruments, data collection, research procedures, scoring
rubric, and data analysis. Chapter IV presents the findings and discussions of the
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of methodology of the study, including research
design, site and participants, research instruments, research procedures, scoring
rubric, data collection, and data analysis.
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN
The study used quantitative method in form of a quasi-experimental
design. The design is chosen because according to Hatch and Farhady (1982), a
quasi-experimental design is practical compromises between true experimentation
and the nature of human language behavior which we wish to investigate.
Table 3. 1 Research Design
G1 T1 X T2
G2 T1 - T2
(Adapted from Hatch & Farhady, 1982) Notes :
G1 : The experimental group
G2 : The control group
T1 : Pre test
X : Treatments (Reflective Essay Technique)
T2 : Post test
The pre-test and post-test were administered to both control and
experimental groups. It is aimed at answering the first research question about the effectiveness of the use of reflective essay in improving students’ scores in writing recount text. As for the second research question, questionnaires were
distributed only to the experimental group in order to find out students’ responses
3.1.1 VARIABLE
Variable can be classified into dependent and independent variables.
According to Hatch and Farhady (1982), independent variable is a variable which
is selected, organized, and evaluated by the researcher. Meanwhile, dependent
variable is the variable in which the researcher observed in order to find out the
effect of the independent variable. As for the study, the independent variable was the reflective essay technique, while the dependent variable was students’ scores in writing recount text.
3.1.2 HYPOTHESIS
Hypothesis is described as a formal confirmatory statement guessing a
single research result, a tentative explanation of the relationship between two or
more variables. According to Best (1981), hypothesis limits the focus of the
investigation to a define target and determines what observations will be made.
However, the most common hypothesis is the null hypothesis which declares that
there is no difference between the results of experimental and control groups
(Hatch & Farhady, 1982). Therefore, the hypotheses are elaborated as follows:
H0 = There is no significant difference between students’ post-test
scores in the experimental group and students’ post-test in the control group.
H1 = There is a significant difference between students’ post-test
scores in the experimental group and students’ post-test in the control group.
3.1.3 SITE AND PARTICIPANTS
The study was conducted in one senior high school in Bandung, Indonesia.
The reason of choosing the school to be the site of the study is because this school
was accessible. The participants of the study were two classes of first grade
consisting of sixty students. The participants were chosen purposively based on
the same number of the students and the non-significant different scores of both
classes. The difference was measured by using the independent t-test.
3.1.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
Research instruments are media used by the researchers to collect the data
(Arikunto, 1996). The study used two main instruments. The first was pre-test and
post-test in forms of instruction writing test. It was aimed at answering the first
research question about the effectiveness of the use of reflective essay in improving students’ scores in writing recount text. The pre-test was administered to both control and experimental groups before the treatments to find out students’ initial ability in writing recount text. Whereas, the post-test was administered after
the treatments given to find out whether or not there was a significant difference on students’ scores of both control and experimental groups. Meanwhile, questionnaires were distributed only to the experimental group as the second main
instrument of the study. It was aimed at answering the second research question about students’ responses toward the technique.
The pre-test and post-test were administered in forms of instruction
writing test. As suggested by Heaton (1983), the test item has to be in the form of
an instruction to write based on a real-life situation in which students are
pretended to be in. Therefore, the students were asked to write a recount text
based on the given topic, which was “My Holiday Experience”.
Pre-test and post-test in forms of instruction writing test should be
measured whether or not it was valid since it acted as the main instrument of this
study. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1990), validity refers to the suitability,
post-test should have two kinds of validity, face validity and content validity. As
stated by Hughes (1989), a face validity test should have a clear and
understandable instruction on how to do the test. Meanwhile, a test can be
considered to have content validity is when the test is likely to be an accurate
measure of what it is supposed to measure. A test is said to have content validity
when the test item is successful to direct the test takers to show particular
language skills in their works expected by test makers (Heaton, 1983).
The researcher used a pilot test to find out whether or not the test
instruments which used in the study have face validity and content validity. In the
pilot test, the researcher asked students outside the participants to do the test based
on the instruction constructed in the test. When the students understood clearly
about the instruction given, it means that the test has possessed the face validity.
Meanwhile, if the students faced difficulties in understanding the instruction, the
researcher had to ask which part of the instruction was confusing them. Then, the
researcher fixed the confusing part to reach the face validity. After that, the researcher had to examine students’ works to find out whether or not the test instrument has content validity. If the test result of several students has reached
the particular language skills expected by the researcher, it means that the test
instrument has possessed the content validity. The researcher could administer
pre-test and post-test when the test instruments have proved two kinds of validity.
Questionnaire was administered only to the experimental group which had
given the reflective essay technique. It was aimed at finding out students’
3.2 DATA COLLECTION
3.2.1 RESEARCH PROCEDURES
There were three steps used by the researcher in order to collect the data,
such as:
1. Preparing and organizing the lesson plan.
2. Creating research instruments
a. Creating instruction for the writing test
b. Creating statements for the questionnaire
3. The teaching phase:
a. Administering pilot test which aimed at measuring whether or not the
instruction of the writing test has already appropriate.
b. Administering pre-test which aimed at finding out students’ initial
ability about recount text.
c. Conducting teaching and learning by using reflective essay through
GBA for the experimental group and using GBA in learning recount
text for the control group. (Treatments)
d. Administering post-test which aimed at finding out whether or not the
treatment (reflective essay technique) was effective in improving
students’ scores in writing recount text.
e. Administering questionnaire which aimed at finding out students’
responses toward the reflective essay technique.
In the study, the researcher acted as a teacher in the classroom for both
control and experimental groups. The teaching schedule is presented in the table
Table 3. 2 Teaching Schedule
Date Control Group Experimental Group
Jumat, 13 September 2013
(Pilot Test)
- -
Jumat, 20 September 2013 Pre-test Pre-test
Jumat, 04 Oktober 2013 (BKOF) Giving recount texts
to be discussed in terms of the
main idea of the text, difficult
vocabularies in the text, and the writers’ comments or expressions used in the text.
(BKOF) Giving recount texts
to be discussed in terms of the
main idea of the text, difficult
vocabularies in the text, and the writers’ comments or expressions used in the text+
1st treatment (writing a
reflective essay at the end of
the class)
Jumat, 11 Oktober 2013 (Modeling) Giving some
examples of recount text to be
discussed and identified
examples of recount text to be
discussed and identified
Jumat, 18 Oktober 2013 (JC) Asking students to make
a recount text in groups based
on the given topic.
(JoT) Asking students to make
a recount text in groups based
on the given topic + 3rd
treatment (writing a reflective
essay at the end of the class)
Jumat, 25 Oktober 2013 (IC) Asking students to write a
recount text individually based
on the given topic.
(IC) Asking students to write a
recount text individually based
on the given topic + 4th
treatment (writing a reflective
essay at the end of the class)
3.2.1.1 ADMINISTERING PILOT TEST
A pilot is a small experiment designed to test logistics and gather information prior to a larger study, in order to improve the latter’s quality and efficiency (Dodd S & Williamson PR, 2004). In order to test the face validity and
content validity of the instruments, the researcher used pilot test. The face validity
was aimed at checking whether or not the test instruments were clearly understood
by the students in terms of instruction. Meanwhile, the content validity was aimed at checking students’ test results. If the test result of several students has reached the particular language skills expected by the researcher, it means that the test
instrument has possessed the content validity.
3.2.1.2 ADMINISTERING PRE-TEST TO EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS
Pre-test was administered after the researcher found that the test
instruments were possible to be used in the study. The test was aimed at finding out students’ writing ability in writing recount text before the treatment given. Thus, students’ improvements on the post-test could be measured.
3.2.3.3 CONDUCTING TREATMENTS
The treatment in the forms of reflective essay was used only in the experimental group. Students’ on the experimental group was taught by using genre-based approach (GBA) + reflective essay technique. On the other side, the
control group was taught by using the same approach but without using the
reflective essay technique. It was aimed at finding out whether or not there was a significant difference between students’ scores which were given reflective essay technique and students’ scores which were not. Hence, the effectiveness of the
reflective essay technique could be measured. Further information related to the
a. Treatment 1
The first treatment applied the first stage of Genre-Based Approach (GBA)
named Building Knowledge of Field (BkoF). Building Knowledge of Field or
preparation is the first stage in which teacher tells the students about the social
features of the text, vocabularies, grammatical pattern, etc (Derewianka,
2004). In this stage, the researcher who also acted as the teacher distributed a recount text entitled “My Holiday in Bali” in form of cloze test. Students were asked to fill in the blanks while listen to the audio version of the text. As
stated by Emilia (2011) that in the BKoF stage, teacher can read the text aloud
or ask the students to listen to the audio version of the text from a tape
recorder. Then, the teacher asked some students to read aloud the text in order
to check the way they pronounced some words in the text. The teacher also
asked whether or not there were some difficult vocabularies in the text. After
that, students were asked to find out the main idea of each paragraph of the
text. The teacher also proposed some questions related to the text. Students were also encouraged to identify the writer’s comments or expressions used in the text, such as: “It was fantastic”, “I was so happy to see it”, etc. As suggested by Gibbon (2002), in this stage, teacher should build up students’
background knowledge until they have enough background knowledge about
the topic that they are going to write. As for the students of the experimental
group, they were asked to write a reflective essay at end of the class. The content of reflective essay consists of students’ activities and feelings toward the lesson of the day. Further information related to the activities on the first
treatment can be seen on the appendices.
b. Treatment 2
The second treatment applied the Modeling stage. In this stage, teacher provided some recount texts related to the topic of the day that was “My holiday experiences”. As stated by Emilia (2011), modeling is the stage in which teacher provides or demonstrates some texts which are going to be the
find out the main idea of each paragraph. After that, teacher explained some
materials related to recount text, such as the social function of the text, the
generic structure of the text, and language features of the text. Then, students
were encouraged to identify the generic structures and language features of recount text. These steps were in line with Emilia’s theory (2010) which stated that there are some activities which can be done in the modeling stage. First,
the teacher can introduce and familiarize the social context and function of the
text to the students. Second, the teacher can show the schematic structure of
the text by using power point or overhead transparency, and presenting the
model of the text. Third, the teacher can present the grammatical features of
the text to the students (Gibbons, 2005; Emilia, 2005, cited in Emilia, 2010).
As for the students of the experimental group, they were asked to write a
reflective essay at end of the class. The content of reflective essay consists of students’ activities and feelings toward the lesson of the day. Further information related to the activities on the second treatment can be seen on the
appendices.
c. Treatment 3
The third treatment applied the Joint Construction of the Text stage (JC). After
the students have clear understandings about the characteristics above, they
are ready to write and implement their comprehension and skill although they
did not work on their own (Gibbons, 2002, p. 66). In this stage, students were asked to make a group of three or four. It was in line with Emilia’s theory (2011) which stated that teacher can divide the students into group of three or
four with the group members that can be decided by themselves. Each of group was given a topic card related to the theme of the day which was “My friend’s personal experience”. Each member of the groups has to interview a friend from other group related to their topic card. Then, they were asked to make a recount text together based on the results of their group’s interview. In this step, the teacher asked students about their difficulties in writing recount
remind students about the aspects of writing and monitor students’ progress in
their writing. As for the students of the experimental group, they were asked to
write a reflective essay at end of the class. The content of reflective essay consists of students’ activities and feelings toward the lesson of the day. Further explanation related to the activities can be seen in the appendices.
d. Treatment 4
The fourth treatment applied the Independent Construction (IC). In this stage,
students were asked to write a recount text individually based on the topic given by the teacher which was “My Unforgettable Moment”. As stated by (Derewianka, 2004; Hyland, 2004; Emilia, 2011), Independent Construction is
the stage where students are asked to write a text based on what they have
learned individually. As for the students of the experimental group, they were
asked to write a reflective essay at end of the class. The content of reflective essay consists of students’ activities and feelings toward the lesson of the day. Further explanation related to the activities can be seen in the appendices.
3.2.1.3 ADMINISTERING POST-TEST TO EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS
Post-test was administered to both experimental and control groups after
the treatments given. It was aimed at finding out the effectiveness of the use of reflective essay as a technique in improving students’ scores in writing a recount text. As stated by Dimitrov and Rumrill (2003), pre-test and post-test designs are
widely used in behavioral research, primarily for the purpose of comparing groups
and/or measuring change resulting from experimental treatments.
3.2.1.4 ADMINISTERING QUESTIONNAIRE
Questionnaire is a series of written questions for which the respondents
has to provide the answers (Bell, 1999). After the treatments given, the
3.3 DATAANALYSIS
In the study, there were several processes in analyzing the data. Data
analysis included the scoring procedure, data analysis on the validity test of the
test instruments (pilot test), data analysis on the pre-test and post-test scores, and
data analysis on the questionnaire. Further information related to the information
is elaborated below.
3.3.1 SCORING PROCEDURE
In evaluating students’ works, there are five aspects that should be
included in writing scoring rubrics, such as genre, register, discourse, grammar,
and graphic feature (Rose, 2007, p. 9-30). The point of each aspect is in range of 1
up to 20 in which the total maximum score is 100.
Table 3. 3 Writing Rubric
Aspects Criteria Score
Genre The organization text completely consists of orientation,
events, and re-orientation in which those are appropriate to
elements of organization structure of recount text.
1-20
Register The availability of appropriateness, clarity and complexity
of language features, context, and its addressee.
1-20
Discourse The writer constructs the meaning by using good
connection, coherency, suitable references, and expressive
ideas.
1-20
Grammar Consists of whole aspects of grammar, such as tenses,
verb-agreement, sentence construction, the use of adjectives, etc.
1-20
Graphic
feature
This aspect includes the spelling, neatness in presenting the
writing, such as margins, spacing, and ordering. 1-20
Total maximum score 100
3.3.2 DATA ANALYSIS ON PILOT TEST
The researcher used a pilot test to analyze the validity of the test
instruments. If the instructions of the test instruments were found to be clear and
understandable enough for the students, it means the test instruments have
possessed face validity (Hughes, 1989). After the pilot test administered, the researcher examined the students’ works. If several students could perform particular language skills which were expected by the researcher, it means the test
instruments have possessed content validity (Heaton, 1983).
3.3.3 DATA ANALYSIS ON PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST SCORES
Pre-test and post-test were administered to both experimental and control
groups in the same procedures. The scores obtained were analyzed by using the
independent t-test. The independent t-test is a tool to determine whether or not
there is a significant difference between the means of two independent samples
(Fraenkel & Wallen, 1990). In order to use the independent t-test, both experimental and control groups’ scores should be normally distributed and equal in terms of homogeneity of variance (Hatch & Farhady, 1992). Therefore, before
using the independent t-test, the normal distribution test and the homogeneity of
variance test were used in order to fulfill the two criteria above.
3.3.3.1 THE NORMAL DISTRIBUTION TEST
The normal distribution test was used to find out whether or not the
sample was normally distributed. According to Weisstein (1999), normal
distribution is a statistic distribution which aims at measuring the distribution of the data is normal. In order to compare two groups’ means of the pre-test and post-test data, the test should be calculated first. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test
was used in the study. The test compares the scores in the sample to a normally
distributed set of scores with the same mean and standard deviation (Field, 2005).
There were three steps to use the test. The first was stating the hypothesis
(H0= the scores between experimental and control groups are normally
distributed) and setting the alpha level of significance at 0.05 (two-tailed test). The second was analyzing the groups’ scores using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov formula. The last was inferring the output data. If the score is non-significant (p<
0.05), it means that the distribution of the sample is significantly different from
normal distribution (probably normal). If the result is significant (p> 0.05) then
the distribution is not significantly different from normal distribution (the sample
scores are normally distributed) (Field, 2005).
3.3.3.2 HOMOGENEITY OF VARIANCE
The researcher used the Levene’s test to analyze the homogeneity of variance of the scores. This test was aimed at finding out whether or not the data
in the pre-test and post-test scores were homogenous. According to Field (2005), the Levene’s test hypothesis states that the variances in the groups are equal if the difference between the variances is zero. The test was calculated by the
computation of SPSS 16.0 for Windows.
There were three steps to use the Levene’s test. The first was stating the hypothesis (H0= data between the two groups are homogenous) and setting the
alpha level of significance at 0.05 (two-tailed test). The second was analyzing the groups’ scores using the Levene’s test. The last was inferring the output data. If the result of the test is interpreted to be significant (p ≤ 0.05), it means the null
hypothesis is incorrect and the variances are significantly difference. On the
contrary, if the result is interpreted to be non-significant (p>0.05), it means the
null hypothesis is accepted and the variances are approximately equal (Field,
2005).
3.3.3.3 THE INDEPENDENT T-TEST
The Independent t-test was used to analyze the relationship between the
independent variable (treatment) and the dependent variable (Coolidge, 2000). In
between the experimental and control groups in terms of the groups’ means on the pre-test and post-test scores. The test was calculated by the computation of SPSS
Statistics 16.0 for Windows.
There were three steps to use the independent t-test. The first was stating
the hypothesis (H0= there is no significant difference between the students’
writing scores in the experimental and control group) and setting the alpha level
of significance at 0.05 (two-tailed test). The second was analyzing the groups’
scores using the independent t-test. The last was comparing the tobt with the level
of significance for testing the hypothesis (tcrit). If the t-obtained > t-critical, it
means that the null hypothesis is rejected because there is a significant difference between experimental and control groups’ scores (Field, 2005).
3.3.3.4 THE DEPENDENT T-TEST
Dependent t-test (paired sample t-test) is used to analyze and compare the
difference of means between the scores of pre-test and post-test of each group
(Kranzel & Moursund, 1999).In the study, the dependent t-test was used only to
the experimental group. It was aimed at finding out whether or not there was a
significant difference between the scores of pre-test and post-test of the
experimental group and the effect size of the treatment. The test was calculated by
the computation of SPSS Statistics 16.0 for Windows.
There were three steps to use the dependent t-test. The first was stating the
hypothesis (H0= there is no significant difference between the scores of pre-test
and post-test of the experimental group) and setting the alpha level of significance
at 0.05. The second was analyzing the scores of pre-test and post-test of the
experimental group. The last was comparing the tobt with the level of significance
for testing the hypothesis (tcrit). If the t-obtained > t-critical, it means that the null
hypothesis is rejected because there is a significant difference between the scores
Table 3. 4 Scale of Effect Size
Effect size r value
Small 0.100
Medium 0.243
Large 0.371
(Coolidge, 2000)
3.3.4 DATA ANALYSIS ON QUESTIONNAIRE
Questionnaire was administered only to the experimental group to find out students’ responses toward the reflective essay technique. As stated by Arikunto (2010), questionnaire consists of several questions needed by the researcher to
obtain some information from the respondents.The questionnaire data were analyzed based on the frequency of students’ answers. The results were put in the percentage as follow:
Notes:
P : Percentage
f0 : Frequency of observed
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This chapter presents the conclusions and suggestions from the results of
the study which have been analyzed in the previous chapter.
5.1 CONCLUSIONS
The study was concerned on the use of reflective essays to improve
students’ scores in writing recount texts. It was conducted to first graders in one senior high school in Bandung. There are two main objectives of the study. The
first was to find out whether or not the use of reflective essays was effective in
improving students’ scores in writing recount texts and the second was to find out
students’ responses toward the technique. The elaboration of each point is
presented below.
First, the use of reflective essays was effective in improving students’
scores in writing recount texts. The finding was supported by the results of the
independent t-test computation in the post-test score. The mean score of the
experimental group, which received the reflective essay technique, was higher
than the mean score of the control group. The result showed that the value of tobt
was higher than tcrit (4.042 > 2.000). Moreover, the products of students’ writing
of experimental and control groups also showed the differences on some aspects.
The differences can be seen from the students’ understanding of the organization
of the text, their choice of words to represent something which increased their
vocabulary, their creativity in arranging their sentences into coherent paragraphs,
and their ability in using proper grammar to express their idea.
Second, the questionnaire that has been distributed only to the
experimental group showed positive response. It was found that most of students
their vocabulary, improving their grammar and writing skill, and helping them in
measuring their understanding toward the subject since they needed to make
reflection based on what they have learned. Furthermore, most students are
interested in writing recount texts through reflective essays.
5.2 SUGGESTIONS
Based on the results of the study, there are several suggestions addressed
to English teachers and further researchers who are interested in the same field.
First, English teachers should implement reflective essay technique in writing
recount texts in order to encourage students to write in English and make them
accustomed to writing. In addition, English teachers are suggested to not only give
scores for students’ writing, but also always give feedback such as correction and compliment in order to see their students’ improvement, how far their students understand the lesson, and to raise their students’ confidence.
Second, there are also some suggestions for further researchers who are
interested in investigating the use of reflective essays. It would be better to
conduct interview in order to find out students’ responses toward the technique in
detail. Moreover, further researchers should apply reflective essay technique not
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